Of all the discouraging developments on display today during the Nationals’ 11-1 shellacking at the hands of the Phillies, perhaps none was as discouraging as John Lannan getting knocked out in the fourth inning.

eh too fine maybe, but the strike zone was wildly inconsistent, hallady got the strikes, lannan didnt…also every hit from that fateful inning besides the HR was pretty lucky, broken bat, seeing eye single, etc…i saw lots of hope, zim was on his game, as were tplush and pudge. jesse english needs to get lots of innings, good or bad. this is a serious decision season, sink or swim for every player above double-a in my opinion.

Batista should never have been awarded a place on the 25 man for this year's team. And then there is Bergmann. Neither had good ST records. Pitchers with better records were optioned owing to discretion because Batista (and Bergmann?) were a veterans? Both he and Hernandez are basically almost the same pitcher throwing around 80MPH if they're lucky. How many of these guys does Riggleman need? Hope? Sure in JZimm who must be recovering reasonably well owing to the fact they put him on the 60-day the earliest. Plus Strasburg. Then there's Storen. I still can't figure out why Riggleman must get Guzman 400 at bats in the 2nd slot when the guy never walks? In order to trade him? And then leave a guy like Morse who hit as well as Heyward exclusively in AAA last year, languishing? He had another hit today. And had a decent spring hitting .300? They need a right fielder and until they find one they probably should just put Tavares out there. Harris just doesn't look up to doing it as a starter. But I guess he needs to be in the lineup so that they can trade him as well? Do they want to win games or create optimal trade situations?

Mark,It is becoming clear that Nats sold Group Sales Bus Tours back in January to Philly fans before selling tickets to individual Nats fans. If this is true you need to report on it and find the numbers…you are way WAY off on your estimate of Philly Fans…I counted over 50 Tour Buses and Stan needs to come clean on this….MARK, I really think you need to do this research and report it….

I don't understand the outrage at the Nats for selling tickets to Phillies fans after Washington fans declined their opportunity to buy them. You blame Kasten? He comes from Atlanta, where fickle fans wouldn't come out for playoff games, leaving thousands of empty seats. So far, Washington fans have not proved to be any better. Opening Day seats were available as part of mini-plans from the day that the schedule was announced last September. Any Washington fan who feels outraged at the number of Phillie fans there yesterday could have helped prevent it by buying tickets to what, five games? That's not much of a commitment, really. Why, I bet there are Phillie fans who live in DC that bought mini-plans just so they'd get the Opening Day game. (I have a friend from Boston who lives in Reston and for years bought a 13-game Orioles plan just so he could see the Red Sox a few times a year. People do it.)So big deal, Kasten sold seats to Phillie tour groups in January, after they no doubt had been pestering the ticket office since the day the schedule was announced in September. By that time, Washington so-called fans had had ample opportunity to purchase those seats, and they passed. Can you blame Kasten for taking the Phillies money?

It is not clear when those sales took place…..If they sold huge blocks back in January as group sales efforts in Philly….which is what my search of Internet "Bus Trip to opening day" is starting to suggest….Then that is before they let even Season Ticket holders access to tickets….That is wrong.

"a guy like Morse who hit as well as Heyward exclusively in AAA last year"wow, peric has been sharing that laced koolaid. heyward = 20morse = 27there is *NO* comparison between heyward and morse. other than the one that says "heyward is awesome, morse could possibly end up be decent." nobody should be mentioning the two of them in the same sentence in a way that implies anything else.

"Any Washington fan who feels outraged at the number of Phillie fans there yesterday could have helped prevent it by buying tickets to what, five games? That's not much of a commitment, really. Why, I bet there are Phillie fans who live in DC that bought mini-plans just so they'd get the Opening Day game. "If you wanted tickets to Opening Day, you had to buy the 13 game plan. I would have GLADLY bought a five game plan! Nationals.com was advertising "here's your chance to go to Opening Day" with a mini-plan or a flex-plan, but those plans didn't include Opening Day. Not to mention the fact that, as of two weeks ago, the half and partial season plans had been reduced to 79 and 39 games so that they didn't include Opening Day.

JayB, find a DC group that was denied the right to buy opening day group tickets in January, or a Philly fan who bought a single game ticket before the STH presale. Then you might have something. But you won't find that.

Yeah, peric, in all seriousness you need to stop triumphing these mediocre-at-best players as the next big thing, both from within and outside of the Nationals system. Fact is, the only reason we even took up Desmond was because Guzman was playing so badly that it made the risk worth it. With the exception of Strasburg and (probably) Storen, discounting people recovering from injury or on the DL, we don't have anyone down there who clearly belongs in the majors right now. If we did, I think it's safe to say he would be up here, since more than a few of the players on the 25-man don't clearly belong in the majors anyway. Similarly, anyone another team is willing to give up on waivers or trade for said mediocre prospects (and players) is going to just as mediocre, unless they're trying to salary dump (and the Nats have been almost comically reluctant to take on preexisting large salaries). The only exceptions are going to be players like Jesse English who were miscast in the wrong roles, and more often than not that's not going to pan out.

Agreed that DC groups were not denied and that Philly fans did not have single game ticket access ahead of DC….that is not the point…you have to have some sense of building a fan base when you role out 100 lose teams year after year….or you lose baseball team like DC has done twice….Lerner's are stupid think short term like this

I look at it, Philly fans putting more money in the Nationals coffers = more money to sign draft picks like SS. National fans have 100 or more games to show their support. It was only one game, we have 161 more games to show Nats have improved, I'm hoping we win the next one, and the next one after that…..

@ ckstevenson:Is Lannan a #3 or is he a #2? Stats are from baseball reference and are based on career regular season averages: Lannan, WSH #1 (3 seasons): 204 IP, 3.99 ERA, 107 ERA+, 3.4 BB/9, 4.6 SO/9, 1.35 SO/BBBlanton, PHI #3 (6 seasons): 213 IP, 4.21 ERA, 102 ERA+, 2.6 BB/9, 5.6 SO/9, 2.20 SO/BB Hamels, PHI #2 (4 seasons): 216 IP, 3.67 ERA, 121 ERA+, 2.3 BB/9, 8.4 SO/9, 3.67 SO/BB Wainwright, STL #2 (5 seasons): 186 IP, 3.17 ERA, 135 ERA+, 2.7 BB/9, 7.1 SO/9, 2.65 SO/BBCaveat: Blanton's # include 5 seasons with OAK.Lannan is a #3 and borders on a #2 with the right club. What Lannan needs is that #1, who is in HBG and is scheduled to arrive in WSH in Jube, from what I read. Clearly, Lannan IS an innings-eater, the guy who will give you 200 innings a year and a respectful ERA. Lannan's ERA and ERA+ are better than Blanton, a #3, and appraoch Hammels, a #2. Lannan comes up a bit small in BB/9, SO/9 and SO/BB compared to the other 3. I suggest that Wainright's lower ERA is a product of a larger ballpark.I've always liked Lannan and would like to have him right now on PHI roster, given than Blanton is out til mid-May with ab strain.GeorgeA Phils fan from back in Ike's day.

ANON: "I would have GLADLY bought a five game plan! Nationals.com was advertising "here's your chance to go to Opening Day" with a mini-plan or a flex-plan, but those plans didn't include Opening Day."Untrue. At least two of the four Flex Plans – possibly all of them – included OD as one of the options. That's what I opted for in early March.